Teamability is a Community Interest Company (CIC) co-founded by former PE teacher Becky Maddern and singing tutor Abi Draycott. The organisation delivers Inclusivity Days in schools, as well as workshops and team-building sessions for businesses, all shaped around lived experience rather than theory.
For Becky, the motivation behind the work comes directly from her own family life.
“I was a teacher for 16 years,” she said. “But everything changed when my son Benjamin was born prematurely. He’s now almost 11, and he has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and he’s registered blind. That journey completely altered how I see the world, and how inaccessible it still is.
“It is not always my son’s disability that places barriers in his way, but society itself, barriers created by a lack of accessibility, awareness and understanding”
“Benjamin attended a mainstream school for the first three years of his education, and the experience was incredible, not only for him but for the children and staff around him. They didn’t see a little boy in a wheelchair who needed to be hoisted or who communicated differently from them. They saw Benjamin, a little boy who wanted to be part of the class and to join in, just like everyone else.”
“Unless you’re a parent carer, a young carer, or you live with disability yourself, a lot of people never actually get the chance to have real conversations about it. That’s where so much of the misunderstanding comes from.”
Teamability works with mainstream pupils rather than disabled children. Sessions use practical activities to help children understand what living with different impairments can feel like, and to consider the barriers disabled people face in everyday life.
“We’re not going into schools teaching about diagnoses,” Becky said. “We’re creating experiences. Children begin to understand visual, hearing, or physical impairments, and then we talk about how those barriers can be reduced. It’s about changing the narrative around disability.”
Alongside Teamability, Becky and Abi also run Singability, a singing and music group for children with profound and multiple disabilities.
Becky said opportunities for inclusive after-school activities for children with complex needs in Swindon remain extremely limited.
“That gap is very real for families,” she said. “Singability exists because we know how isolating it can be when your child simply doesn’t fit into what’s normally available.”
“Why are we not teaching children how to use sign-language? Children leave our sessions being able to sign hello, goodbye, the alphabet and they even sing and sign a whole song”
Teamability formally became a CIC in September and has already delivered sessions in several local schools. Becky said early conversations with schools have confirmed there is a need for the work.
“We’re very new, and we’re honest about that,” she said. “But the conversations we’re having with schools are that our sessions are an eye-opening experience to see the life of a disabled person and how they can adapt to include them.”
The organisation recently won a public vote to receive a free creative support package from Gel Studios, which Becky said has helped raise awareness of the project.
“We’re just two women trying to build something meaningful,” she said. “That support has helped people take notice and understand that this work matters.”
Looking ahead, Teamability hopes to grow its work with both schools and local businesses across Swindon, focusing on empathy and practical inclusion rather than compliance alone.
“Our goal isn’t to fix everything overnight,” Becky said. “It’s to be heard, to bring parent carers’ voices into the conversation, and to help build a society where inclusion isn’t an initiative, it’s just how things are. Teachers also need to be educated on inclusion and disability awareness.”
The team are currently seeking sponsorship and support from local businesses across Swindon.
